Calling all Maitlands,
and
Mautalents, Mautalens, Lauderdales,

Maitlens, Medlins, Maizlands

Welcome, we are nearly all related, and find that when we meet the warmth of our gatherings shows a family relationship.

Clan Maitland Society welcomes all people with these names (or descended from someone with these names) as kinsfolk. We believe that we are descended from one individual, who lived in Normandy around 1000 to 1070 because the name is unusual, can be easily traced and because there are historic records which indicate that the name was taken as a personal nickname and only used by descendants of the first Mautalent to use it.

Maitlands are directly descended from the original Norman Mautalent who settled in Northumberland around 1130. At that time it was part of Scotland. The family settled at Thirlestane in Lauderdale about 1250, and branches became established in Aberdeenshire and Galloway around 1400. Anyone who bears the name, or is descended from someone bearing the name is almost certainly a blood relative. Some have taken the name, from choice, or as descendents of former slaves.

Lauderdales, mainly an American family, have clear evidence of their descent from the Maitlands.

Maitlen and Maizlan are also considered variants of Maitland. Medlins whose family comes from Scotland are almost certainly Maitlands, but other Medlins whose family came from England may be from a different family.

All who bear these names, or are descended from those who bear these names or their variants are welcome.

We maintain close links with our kin in Scotland, England, France, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Others live in Argentina and Uruguay.

Brief origins

Maitlands are descended from a Mautalent of Norman origin
who settled in Northumberland around 1130 as a vassal of the King of Scotland.
See Origins of the Maitlands

Mautalents bear the original and earliest name of the family, and originate in the villages of Les Moitiers d'Allonne and Carteret in the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy in northern France. Mautalents also had fiefs in Jersey and Guernsey in the early Middle Ages. Members of the family live in Normandy to this day.

Mautalens live in the Bearn area of southern France near Pau in the Pyrenees and used the name Mautalent until the 18th century, They probably migrated from Normandy to Bearn around 1300. They are first recorded there as Aramonet de Mautalent, an official carrying out the Census of 1385 in Bearn, and have lived in the area since then.

Lauderdale first appears in the records as a family name in Scotland in 1737, with the baptism of Jean Lauderdale at Beith in Ayr, the daughter of James Lauderdale.

Lauderdales in the USA are mainly descended from James Maitland who originated in Galloway in south-west Scotland and migrated to Ulster before moving to Pennsylvania in the American colonies in 1714. At some stage he changed his name to Lauderdale, and founded a distinguished American pioneer family of that name. Fort Lauderdale, and a number of American counties are directly linked with the family.

We cannot undertake genealogical research, but are happy to respond to general queries, and may be able to answer queries about the main lines of the Maitlands. Do visit the Genealogy page for answers to many questions.